BBC Names Hall as Director General Replacing Entwistle

Royal Opera House Chief Executive Officer Tony Hall has been named director general of the British Broadcasting Corp. Photographer: Suzanne Plunkett/Bloomberg

Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The British Broadcasting Corp. named
Tony Hall, the head of the Royal Opera House who worked at the
broadcaster for 28 years, as the next director general as it
tries to recover from child sex-abuse scandals.

Hall replaces George Entwistle, who quit this month after a
Nov. 2 BBC “Newsnight” program wrongly implied that a U.K.
politician had molested a boy. Hall starts in early March and
will be paid 450,000 pounds ($718,000) a year, the same salary
Entwistle was awarded, the BBC Trust said today.

“As an ex-BBC man he understands how the corporation’s
culture and behavior make it, at its best, the greatest
broadcaster in the world,” BBC Trust Chairman Chris Patten said
in a statement. “From his vantage point outside the BBC, he
understands the sometimes justified criticisms of the
corporation -- that it can be inward looking and on occasions
too institutional.”

Patten earlier called for a “radical overhaul” of the
corporation. Hall is rejoining the London-based BBC as the
broadcaster is also investigating its missteps in handling
allegations that television host Jimmy Savile, who died last
year, may have been involved in the abuse of more than 450
people.

‘Radical Overhaul’

Two probes at the BBC are examining why a “Newsnight”
program investigating Savile was canceled last year and are
looking into the culture and practices of the broadcaster when
Savile worked at the organization. The inquiries will also focus
on the role of executives such as Mark Thompson, Entwistle’s
predecessor. Thompson is now CEO of the New York Times Co.

Hall joined the BBC in 1973 as a news trainee, when Savile
was hosting the Radio One Weekly show and two years before
Savile’s “Jim’ll Fix It” TV program started.

Savile is accused of using his access to children on
“Jim’ll Fix It” and his older “Top of the Pops” TV show to
commit abuse. He is also accused of exploiting his power as a
celebrity to molest people at hospitals and schools.

The BBC Trust’s board appointed Hall in a meeting this
morning.

Hall was head of BBC News and Current Affairs from 1996 to
2001 and was responsible for introducing BBC News Online. He is
currently deputy chairman of Channel 4.

Entwistle, who quit after less than two months on the job,
was paid a full year’s salary plus costs. Shortly afterwards,
News Director Helen Boaden and her deputy, Stephen Mitchell,
stepped aside during investigations into the Savile case.

Taxpayer-Funded

Alistair McAlpine, a former Tory party treasurer, won
185,000 pounds from the BBC last week after he was wrongly
linked to child sex-abuse allegations on “Newsnight.” Today,
he was awarded 125,000 pounds from commercial TV station ITV Plc
after his name appeared on a list of accused pedophiles passed
to Prime Minister David Cameron on air.

The settlement with ITV reflects the fact that the
“defamatory incident” was aired after “Newsnight” had
brought the matter into the public domain, McAlpine’s lawyers
said today in a statement. McAlpine is pleased with the
settlement, according to the statement.

McAlpine is now looking at legal action against Twitter
users who tweeted and re-tweeted child abuse claims against him.
The claims began circulating online after the BBC “Newsnight”
program indirectly linked him to abuse at child-care homes in
Wales in the 1970s and 1980s.

‘Difficult Weeks’

The BBC controls the most popular television and radio
channels in the U.K. and is funded by license fees from TV
owners in the country. Hall will be the 16th director general,
acting as chief executive officer and editor-in-chief.

The appointment came after the BBC Trust approached Hall,
who wasn’t available during the initial search for Thompson’s
replacement four months ago, the company said in the statement.

“It’s been a difficult few weeks -- but together we’ll get
through it,” Hall said in the statement. “This organization is
an incredibly important part of what makes the United Kingdom
what it is. And of course it matters not just to people in this
country -- but to tens of millions around the world too.”